


Past Is Past

by coldphoenix



Category: Dragon Ball
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-21
Updated: 2017-02-21
Packaged: 2018-09-26 03:24:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,637
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9859958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coldphoenix/pseuds/coldphoenix
Summary: An insight into the lives of the Nameless Namekian child and his father Katas, set in the months leading up to Nameless's departure. The people of Namek are struggling to survive, and a troubled child tries desperately to hold onto his former life.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is a fic I’ve been thinking about for a few months now; I keep thinking of little scenes and ideas for it… I was always in two minds about writing it, because I wasn’t sure if I’d have the time and I didn’t know how well it would be received. So… I guess you could say this chapter is like a pilot. If it gets good feedback I may continue the story, but that will depend on how much free time I have and how popular this chapter is. Anyway, I hope this is a good pilot either way :)  
> Also, please excuse the bad names, I struggled to think of anything good. I may change them at a later date if the fic becomes official.  
> Enjoy!
> 
> Edit: I forgot to say that I'm using the hermaphrodite theory in this fic, where Namekians can reproduce both sexually and asexually. It's the theory I use for most of my fics and it's based on something Toriyama said. I'm open to other ideas and headcanons in general, but that's the one I'm going for in this. I hope it doesn't offend :)

The soft patting of light shoes upon slim feet echoed down the corridor. They were practically skipping, their owner almost dancing with excitement as they opened the door to Katas’s lab.  
“Hello!” They greeted him brightly, their eyes immediately locking on the dragon clan Namekian that sat at his desk, hunched over a computer screen, with a mountain of paperwork in front of him.  
“Hey…” Katas half-heartedly greeted him, typing into his computer with one hand while the other tugged at his own antennae in frustration. “… Fuck!” He barked, infuriated as the computer offered him a loud _beep_ , rejecting the formula he was convinced would work. Shit…  
“Sounds like you need a break.” His companion greeted him, coming up behind Katas. He set his bags down, and placed his hands on Katas’s shoulders.  
“Don’t…” Katas groaned. “Sneil… I have to get this done.”  
“I’m not stopping you.” The other Namekian replied, massaging Katas’s stiff shoulders with a smirk upon his lips. “Carry on.”  
“I can’t.” Katas sulked. “I’m distracted now.”  
“Oh…” Sneil sighed, moving his hands down to wrap them around Katas’s front. He leaned his cheek against his lover’s head, and planted a kiss at the base of Katas’s antennae. “Sorry… should I go?”  
“… No.” Katas smirked back. “Just help me solve this.”  
“Pff! I’d better go.” Sneil scoffed, causing Katas to laugh. “I can’t do rocket science.”  
“Right…” Katas sighed. “Why are primary school teachers so dumb?”  
“Shut up!” Sneil barked, smacking him. “Do you want your son to stay in detention for the rest of the term? Because if it wasn’t for me, he would!”  
“Wha – you said you’d stop covering for him!” Katas protested, his face turning serious as he looked up at Sneil. “Sneil – if he does something wrong, punish him! Don’t turn a blind eye just because you’re screwing his father!”  
“Well I _would_ punish him…” Sneil began. “But if I did that every time he did something wrong, I’d never get any of my own work done – and I **do** have a lot of work!” He shot Katas a stern glare, before Katas could make some snippy remark. Katas sniggered a little, his cheeks darkening as he realised how predictable he was.  
“Does he really misbehave that much?” Katas asked.

Sneil sighed, and moved to sit on Katas’s lap.  
“Kind of…” He mumbled. “He’s been acting out recently – I think the water crisis is scaring him. I try to talk to him, but… you know what he’s like. He’s got that brave side to him.” He looked at Katas, his face softening. “But he’s worried. I can tell – and it’s affecting his behaviour. Sometimes it’s like he’s two different kids, he’ll be the perfect student one minute, and the next he’s arguing with everything the teachers say. You need to talk to him.”  
“I tried…” Katas mumbled, trailing his hand down Sneil’s back as he helplessly thought about what to do. His child had always been strong-willed, and had even been known to throw the odd tantrum here and there when he was younger, but now… even Katas had noticed a difference. His bad side was beginning to surface more and more. Katas didn’t know how to stop it. “But he won’t speak to me.”  
“Well you need to try harder.” Sneil said, and then his eyes lit up as a wicked smirk travelled across his face. “Speaking of hard…” He placed his hands on Katas’s belt, and started to loosen it. “You know I didn’t actually come here to help you with math. Or talk about your bratty kid.”  
“Sneil…” Katas uttered weakly, smiling slightly as Sneil began kissing his neck.  
“Come on…” Sneil purred, his hand crawling under Katas’s belt. “You can go back to boring stuff afterwards, I promise.”  
“I don’t have time!” Katas protested. “I have to pick him up in –” He was suddenly cut off by Sneil’s lips on his, and he made little effort to end the kiss. Katas had to admit, he had a weakness for doing it at work… or anywhere that was forbidden. Misbehaving had always been a favourite hobby of his… he’d tried to tone it down since having his child, and ninety-nine per cent of the time he was well-behaved and a perfect role model, but sometimes… sometimes he remembered how much fun he used to have when he didn’t give a crap about responsibility. 

_Buzz_. In perfect timing, Katas’s phone started ringing.  
“Don’t answer it.” Sneil said. Katas thought about not answering. He glanced at the phone, just to make sure it was nothing important… Fuck.  
“It’s my kid.” Katas spoke in disappointment, and Sneil let out a sigh. “Don’t say anything.” Katas ordered sternly. Sneil simply pulled his fingers across his lips, as if fastening them. He looked annoyed, though. As much as Katas liked sneaking around like this, Sneil hated it. Nobody knew about their unofficial relationship, and sometimes Sneil made it painfully obvious that he wanted this to be more than just a fling. Katas… didn’t like to go there. “Hello, Little One…” Katas greeted his child, ignoring the sulky look on Sneil’s face. “Do you need me to come now?”  
_“Actually… can I stay here?”_ His child replied. _“Me and Escar are in the middle of something important.”_  
“Stay over?” Katas frowned. “Did his parents say it was okay?”  
_“Yes.”_ The child replied.  
“So put them on.” Katas ordered, not trusting him.  
_“They said it was fine!”_  
“They didn’t say anything to me.” Katas argued. “Put them on.”

He smirked slightly at the sound of his child sighing, and a distant young voice saying ‘he wants to talk to you’.  
_“Hi Katas.”_ The parent of his child’s school friend came on the phone.  
“Hi… listen – is it really okay for him to stay over?” Katas asked. “That’s three times this week.”  
_“No, it’s fine – I’ll never hear the end of it if he doesn’t. They’re playing some video game… if they don’t get to the next level today the whole world will end.”_  
“Oh, right.” Katas sniggered slightly.  
_“I’ll drop them both off at school tomorrow morning – is that okay?”_  
“Yes. If you’re alright with it…” Katas replied. “Thanks.”  
_“No problem. See you tomorrow.”_  
“See you.”

Katas hung up the phone, and looked at the excited, brightly lit face of his companion. So he’d heard that, then? “Looks like I’m not in such a rush anymore.” Katas purred, putting his arms around Sneil. “Want to stay at mine tonight?”  
“Yes!” Sneil squealed, and went back to seducing his lover.

XXXXX

Meanwhile, over at the home of the child Escar, one of Escar’s parents came off the phone and looked down at the two children who were staring up at him with wide eyes, keenly awaiting his permission to finish their game.  
“Okay. He can stay over.” He said.  
“ _ **Yes**_!” The children exclaimed, and they immediately bolted into Escar’s room.  
“But don’t be on that thing all night!” The adult called after them. “Just another hour, then do your homework!”  
“Okay!” The children called back, not really listening.

They ran into Escar’s room, and threw themselves in front of a paused video game. Katas’s child picked up the controller, and started playing.  
“Yeah!” Escar grinned, staring at the screen in excitement. “You’re doing it.”  
“Of course I’m doing it.” Katas’s child replied arrogantly. “This part’s easy, I can’t believe you haven’t got past it.” He spoke the words casually, putting little thought into them, but he immediately began to feel regret when he sensed that Escar’s feelings were hurt. Dammit…  
_“Why do you have to be so mean?”_ The kinder part of his being spoke up, glaring sternly at its not-so-good counterpart. Katas’s child was generally a good-natured one, but every so often… a darkness in him came out. It caused him to misbehave, or say cruel things… all of which were regretted as soon as the goodness in him came to surface. It never took long for that to happen. The goodness, ‘Lighter’ was the more dominant of the two sides, after all… The ‘bad’ side of him, Darker, only came out when it was needed. Although… recently, that had been happening more and more. Lighter couldn’t deny it… he was the coward side. Darker was brave; he had the strength to fight away all their worries and fears, and the water crisis on Namek was making Lighter afraid. Earlier in the year a meteor had hit the planet, wiping out over half its inhabitants. Then there had been a dramatic change in climate, rapidly turning what had once been a beautiful meadow of a planet into a barren wasteland. There was no water. There were dust clouds in the air; a lot of the older people were getting sick. The adults were rationing out the planet’s water… they tried to pretend like everything was okay, but the children weren’t idiots. They knew something was seriously wrong.  
_“Well… it’s true.”_ Darker answered stubbornly. He looked at Escar, and sighed at the hurt expression on his face. _“… You’d better talk to him.”_ He mumbled. _“I suck at that stuff.”_ He closed his eyes, and retreated back into his host’s subconscious.

Katas’s child, Lighter and Darker’s host, looked at Escar, and an apologetic expression steadily appeared on his softened face.  
“I’m sorry.” He mumbled. “This part is pretty hard… I think I just practice more than you.”  
“You never do your homework.” Escar sniped. “That’s why.”  
“Gonna tell on me?” Host smirked, a flicker of appearing Darker in his eyes as he teased Escar.  
“… No.” Escar smirked back. “I guess if you do it before class, you still do it.” He laughed. “I don’t know how you do that, you know… it takes me so long.” He looked at Host, and sheepishly smiled. “You’re smarter than me.”  
“Well…” Host mumbled shyly, his cheeks turning violet. “… you’re prettier than me.”  
“… You wanna try it again?” Escar asked.  
“Okay.”

Host hesitated, his heart beating rapidly. He was nervous…  
_“Jeez! Just do it, already!”_ Darker cried. _“He wants you to!”_  
_“What if I screw it up…?”_ Lighter timidly answered. _“I screwed up last time.”_  
_“And he didn’t dump us.”_ Darker frowned. _“Just do it. Or step aside and let me do it.”_  
_“Okay.”_ Lighter nodded eagerly, keen for his braver side to take over.

In just a moment the nerves vanished from Host’s face, and he moved closer to Escar.  
“Okay…” He mumbled, as Escar patiently awaited his move. Host took a breath, and placed his lips against Escar’s, wrapping their antennae together. The antennae was the part he screwed up last time… He was kind of clumsy… They children held that position for a few seconds, and then they broke away. 

Host looked away, a small blush forming on his hardened face. “Uh… was that okay?” He asked.  
“Better.” Escar smiled. “It was fun.” He kissed Host’s cheek, and moved his eyes back to the video game. “Just do this level for me, then let me take over.”  
“Okay…” Host mumbled, and went back to playing the video game, as if nothing had happened.  
“Hey…” Escar uttered. “After this, can you help me with my homework?”  
“Sure.” Host shrugged. “You have to write it though, they’ll know if it’s my writing.”  
“Yeah – I know that!” Escar snapped, seemingly insulted. “I’m not an idiot!”  
“Sorry…”

XXXXX

_Beep beep beep beep_.  
“Nn…” Sneil groaned, burying his face into the depths of Katas’s bed. It was the following morning, and he found himself waking to the whiny sound of Katas’s alarm clock. “Turn it off…”  
“Hm…?” Katas replied sleepily, waking up himself. He opened his eyes, and frowned slightly at the image of Sneil lying beside him. “… What are you doing here?”  
“Fuck you!” Sneil growled, suddenly wake awake. He sat up in anger, and glared down at Katas. “I’m not an object! If you’re going to treat me like that then –”  
“I mean…” Katas sighed, yawning. “This is **my** alarm.”  
“ _So_?” Sneil growled.  
“… I start work an hour after you.” Katas mumbled.  
“… _**Fuck**_!”

Sneil leapt out of bed, his eyes widening in panic as he noticed the time. “I’m gonna be late – **shit**!” He bolted into the bathroom, as Katas casually closed his eyes and stretched. “Katas – where do you keep your dry soap?”  
“In the –”  
“It’s okay, I found it!” Sneil’s voice cut Katas off before he could reply. He’d been here before; he knew where Katas kept everything. He was just too flustered to think. “Ugh. I hate this – I’m fucking disgusting! When are you guys going to fix the water crisis? I want a shower!”  
“Fixing it isn’t my department…” Katas answered half-heartedly, and yawned again. “I build rockets.”  
“Is it really going to come to that?”  
“Do you want to have that conversation now…?” Katas replied.  
“ _ **No**_!” Sneil screamed. “I’m late!” He came flying out of the bathroom, furiously scrubbing himself with dry soap. The shortage of water on Namek had made using water for anything other than drinking illegal; these days everyone had to clean themselves with a dry, waterless compound. Sneil didn’t like it much… nor did Katas. You could have so much more fun in a shower… “Why didn’t you wake me?”  
“You told me not to set an alarm for you!” Katas protested, sitting up. “Remember? You always wake up early.” He looked at Sneil, painfully reminding him of what he’d said last night. Not setting an alarm was **Sneil’s** idea.  
“Yeah well – I **do** always wake up early!” Sneil cried, and pointed at Katas accusingly. “This is your fault!”  
“How is it my fault?” Katas demanded.  
“I overslept because I was _**exhausted**_!” Sneil hissed, shooting him a glare. Katas started sniggering, blushing a little.  
“Well… you said you wanted to be the pusher.” He lay down on his side, half covered by the bed sheets, and he smirked at Sneil. “It’s not my fault if I’m hard to please.”  
“Shut up…” Sneil growled. He stood in front of Katas’s mirror, and watched himself as he used his powers to make fresh clothes appear on his body. Yesterday’s clothes were… stained. A little torn, as well… “What do you think?”  
“Cute.” Katas remarked, admiring Sneil’s new clothing. He’d put himself in a long-sleeved blue robe with a white belt. It was okay for school, but… hm. kind of boring.

_Zap_. Sneil’s eyes widened slightly, and he turned to look at Katas.  
“Did you just put me in a thong?” He growled.  
“You want me to take it off for you?” Katas smirked. The corners of Sneil’s mouth twitched slightly, and he thought about it for a moment. Katas did look good naked… … No!  
“I’m late!” Sneil huffed. “I have to go!”  
“Okay. Wait.” Katas said, climbing out of bed. Sneil waited, and frowned when Katas started routing through his drawers.  
“Katas!” He hissed. “I don’t have time! What –” He stopped when Katas approached him, carrying a bottle of water.  
“You look exhausted.” Katas commented, and held the bottle to Sneil. “Drink.”  
“… No!” Sneil frowned, pushing the bottle away. “It’s your rations –”  
“I get extra.” Katas said.  
“Yeah – for your child!” Sneil barked. “Don’t be ridiculous –”  
“It’s not his!” Katas growled. “I wouldn’t give his water to anyone! This is mine. I get extra, from work.”  
“Work?” Sneil frowned.  
“Yeah… I’m in one of those necessary jobs. The elders think my work is important, so I get extra rations.” Katas explained.  
“Wha – what about me!” Sneil protested. “I’m a school teacher!”  
“Exactly.” Katas smirked. “ _Primary_. Anybody can do your job, you aren’t a necessity.”  
“Shut up!” Sneil snarled, hitting him. “Jackass!”  
“Haha.” Katas sniggered, and caught Sneil’s hand. “I’m kidding. Here.” He tucked the water bottle into Sneil’s belt, and smiled at him. “Just take it. It’s my fault you’re exhausted anyway, right?”  
“… Yes.” Sneil replied, forcing back a smirk as he shyly looked away.

Katas leaned forward, and kissed Sneil’s cheek, tickling his antennae with his own.  
“Make sure my child behaves.” He said.  
“… Katas.” Sneil looked at him, his face turning serious. “… When are we going to tell him?”  
“About…?” Katas mumbled, dreading what was coming next. He knew where Sneil was going… He didn’t want to talk about this. He **never** wanted to talk about this.  
“Us.” Sneil huffed. “We can’t sneak around forever – and he’s not an idiot! If he doesn’t already know he’ll find out.”  
“He doesn’t already know.” Katas said sternly. “And he won’t find out.” He looked at Sneil, almost glaring at him. “How many times do I have to say it? I don’t want a relationship. He doesn’t need two parents.”  
“I’m not saying –”  
“And **I** don’t need anything serious.” Katas growled. “I don’t do commitment. Or official. I just do fun. Do you seriously want more?”  
“… Wouldn’t matter if I did, would it?” Sneil sniped. “I’m late.”  
“Sneil –”  
“I’ll see you later!” Sneil growled. “Go and do math, you big nerd!” He stormed out of the house, leaving Katas with plenty to think about. Or, so he’d hoped… Katas simply sighed, and flopped back onto his bed. He was already thinking about work instead.

XXXXX

“Okay, class! Sorry I’m late – I had so much marking to do, I was _very_ impressed with yesterday’s essays…” Sneil announced, bursting into his classroom with as much false enthusiasm as he could manage. He looked apologetically at the teacher that had been covering for him, and received a glare back. They knew he was lying. One or two of the teachers had strong suspicions about Sneil and Katas, even if the children didn’t, and this one seemed pretty convinced that Sneil wasn’t late because he’d been busy marking. “Thank you Slugg, for getting everything started…” He looked sheepish as the other teacher, Slugg approached him, and as Slugg walked past he whispered into Sneil’s ear.  
“Your antennae’s bent.”  
“… Thanks.” Sneil mumbled, his cheeks turning violet. **Fuck**! He hadn’t even noticed. He grabbed hold of his antennae, and desperately tried to sweep it back into position as he smiled at the class, as if nothing was wrong. Ow! Dammit, that hurt… last night had gotten a little rough. It always got a little rough… But from what Sneil had heard, Katas had a lot of experience with dating… and it showed! “Anyway! Guys, we’re going to continue on from yesterday. Please turn to page five of your textbooks…”  
“ _Hey_.”

At the back of the class, Host whispered to Escar as the children sat next to each other. “Don’t say anything, but I think Teacher is dating my father…”  
“What!” Escar gasped. “No way!”  
“Ssh!” Host whispered fiercely, the stern side of him coming out. “Not so loud!”  
“Sorry!” Escar clasped his hands over his mouth, but it was too late.  
“Hey!” Sneil snapped, glaring at the children. “You two – no talking!”  
“Sorry.” The children replied.

Lighter frowned at Darker.  
_“I knew it was a bad idea.”_ He scolded. _“Sneil hears everything! Now you’ll get Escar into trouble!”_  
_“I didn’t mean to!”_ Darker agued.  
“How do you know?” Escar whispered to Host, when Sneil resumed the class.  
“Just little things… Katas thinks I don’t notice.” Host replied. “But he always leaves the room to make phone calls, or he doesn’t answer…”  
“That could just be to do with work. Like a secret project or something.” Escar shrugged.  
“He never used to get work calls.” Host replied. “And whenever I stay at yours, he always looks tired the next day. Like he stayed up late.”  
“Oh – hey, that makes sense actually!” Escar gasped. “Because – when we’re together, we stay up later than usual.” He smirked slightly, thinking about how his parents didn’t know that he and his secret boyfriend stayed up playing video games after they were told to go to sleep.  
“ **Exactly**.” Host smirked. “It’s so obvious.”  
“… Hey.” Escar looked at him. “You don’t think he knows… about us, do you?”  
“He hasn’t said anything…” Host mumbled. “… But he likes you. It’s your parents that would have something to say.” He looked at Escar, somewhat sadly. “They think I’m bad news, don’t they?”  
“No!” Escar insisted, as convincingly as he could. It was still painfully obvious that he was lying. “They… they wouldn’t mind if we dated.”  
“Tch. Yeah, right.” Host snorted.  
“ **Guys**!” Sneil barked, glaring at them. “Silence! This is your **final** warning!”  
“Sorry…”

The children remained quiet for a moment, paying attention to class, until Host became distracted. He looked at Escar, and smiled slightly.  
_“Don’t do it.”_ Lighter said. _“You heard Teacher. We’ll get detention! Father will flip!”_  
_“Not if we don’t get caught.”_ Darker replied. _“We’ll just be quiet.”_  
_“No!”_ Lighter insisted. _“It’s a bad idea!”_  
_“If you think so, then don’t listen to me.”_ Darker shrugged.

Host looked at Escar, a darkly confident grin upon his face.  
“After school, do you want to try kissing again?” He asked.  
“Sure.” Escar nodded, blushing slightly. “You know, I was thinking… when we’re older, do you want to do it?”  
“Uh…” Host’s cheeks darkened. “S-Sure, but… I don’t know how. Do you?”  
“No…” Escar mumbled. “Don’t you just automatically learn when you’re older?”  
“I’m not sure.” Host admitted. “I’ll look it up.”  
“K.” Escar replied, semi-listening as he drew a picture of last night’s video game in his workbook. He liked this character… he always drew it. Host looked over at the picture, and grinned.  
“You’re really good at drawing, you know.”  
“Thanks…” Escar smiled.  
“Can you draw one for me –”  
“ _ **That’s it**_!” Sneil screamed, finally losing his temper. He pointed at Host, and gave him a stern glare. “ **You**! Detention!”  
_“See!”_ Lighter hissed, glaring at Darker. _“I told you we should stay quiet!”_  
_“Yeah…”_ Darker mumbled. _“But… it was fun to talk to him. Totally worth it.”_  
_“Hm.”_ Lighter sighed, reluctant to admit that Darker was right.


End file.
